The third frost in succession. 7 degrees air temperature at 4.00pm yesterday when I was baiting up. November ticking away remorselessly. The big questions… am I looking at the end of the barbel season? Is this a good thing, or bad?
First, do I/we want to catch barbel winter through, season round? What about river pike, the roach down towards Hereford way, and of course, the lure of seriously big perch? Isn’t it good to have variety in a fishing life?
Second, how viable is the desire to catch barbel every month of the year, especially on a river as volatile as the Wye where floods especially can scupper every plan? I would have to look back, but I believe it was the winter 1992/93 that I tried to catch a Wye barbel every month between November and March. From memory, I think February caught me out… but I might have been in India much of that month anyway.
Third, whilst mild floods might be not too much of a damaging issue, water temperature surely is. The Wye comes down from the fastnesses of mountainous Wales and that feels cold, just typing it! Do I remember Tony Miles writing that barbel switch off at 43 degrees Fahrenheit? There must be weeks when Wye water is colder than this? Mind you, I do remember a January day at the Red Lion water at the bottom of Beat 5 when there had been nights of vicious frost and Pete Smith and I came across barbel feeding in three feet of water just out from the wooded bankside. They were silting up ferociously and we seduced them to feed on corn without much bother.
Fourth, I would suggest feeding is a part of it. Presumably/possibly, if I were to stick to two or three big, known swims that fish well in flood and low water alike, and if I were to keep the bait going in pretty much daily, then the barbel would respond by feeding there? Their activity might slow up. I might decide to fish mild periods. I might rely on dusk, early evening sessions, but I have strong hunches I’d pull barbel way after Christmas.
Hmm… I guess the decision is in part up to me, in part up to the weather Gods. If we have floods of last season’s magnitude the decision is out of my hands. Perhaps the best plan might be to persevere as long as the conditions allow, and see how the barbel respond on a week to week basis? At least I’m out over the weekend in air temperatures of 12 degrees or more so I think I can let future plans take care of themselves!
